I'm still trying to find the unencrypted HD channels on Comcast (Waltham, MA). I can get signal locks, but then after a very, very long time, I get Timeout Scanning.

I can make NTSC work off of the wire, and channels all the way from 2 to 120 or so come in just fine, with the horrific exceptions of channels 61 and 62. Sadly, these are Comedy and SciFi, so of course this is totally unacceptable (especially with the new Dr. Who).

So, for tonight, I have only one question: Why would NTSC work correctly for every channel except 61 and 62? I have a SIIG EM28xx-based tuner that works just fine for both (well, it doesn't yet work on MythTV, but it works under XP), so I can't (necessarily) blame Comcast for this (stated differently, since the SIIG can read 61 and 62, I know the Set Top Box isn't required for them - also, the cable-ready TV tunes to them just fine as well).

Any suggestions where to look for answers?

Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:50 pm

soxfan

Joined: 26 Apr 2006

Posts: 2

I don't really have a good answer for you, but I can tell you that I also have Comcast cable (Tewksbury, MA) and I'm seeing the same thing as you on channels 61 and 62. In the same PC I have a Hauppauge PVR-150 card, and it can tune both these channels fine, in both TVTime and MythTV. So, it appears to be an issue specific to Comcast and the HD-3000. I've tried other tuner cards in the past, and have had some problems with channels 5 and 6, but I have usually been able to fix this using the program's fine-tuning. This does not appear to be the case with channels 61 and 62 on the HD-3000.

Re: Channels 61 and 62 (Comcast, of course) NTSC, and HD3000

Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:31 pm

xyzzy

Joined: 12 Feb 2006

Posts: 225

xaetognath wrote:

Any suggestions where to look for answers?

Check the video4linux mailing list, the HD-3000 drivers were using the wrong tuner. You can get the latest drivers from linuxtv.org which have my patch in them. Or you can fix this by with the option tuner=60 for the cx88xx module. You can get more information in this thread.

And, Voila! Xyzzy solves the problem

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:41 am

xaetognath

Joined: 26 Apr 2006

Posts: 6

Location: Waltham, MA

The solution for me was to add the following to /etc/modules.conf:

options cx88xx.conf tuner=60

Special note for Gentoo users -
you can't directly modify /etc/modules.conf (well you can, but it won't take... on next boot, your changes will be renamed /etc/modules.conf.old, and a new /etc/modules.conf will be created). The place to make your modules.conf modification is in /etc/modules.d - create a new file [I used "options"] and add the line there. The options statement will be included in /etc/modules.conf after the next reboot.

Disclaimer: I am not familiar with enough other distros to make any recommendations for them. Also, I'm a rank novice, so you shouldn't trust me. Your mileage will probably vary. Following my instructions is guaranteed only to result in changes to the contents of one or more files in your /etc directory, probably with dire results. God have mercy on your soul.